Show creator and EP, former Super Bowl champion Martellus Bennett, and EP Jeff “Swampy” Marsh discuss their unique creative partnership on the whimsical and music filled series about an imaginative young girl and her stuffed bunny sidekick, based on the NFL star’s children’s books; kicks off January 13 on Disney Jr., next day on Disney+.10 seasons as a tight end in the National Football League (NFL), recipient of Pro Bowl honors, a Super Bowl winner, and now… a children’s book author, animated series creator and voice actor.Martellus Bennett swapped footballs for filmmaking back in 2014 with the creation of Martellus Bennett's Imagination Agency and the animated short film .
“I was a creative child,” shares Bennett.“Sports was a thing that I was taught, but I was the neighborhood storyteller growing up.And even in college and in the NFL, I used to read scripts on the plane.
So, I was making children's books while I was playing.I was always a creative who was playing sports, not a sports person who started being creative.And I left the game to go into art full time.” It’s an unconventional journey, but one that Disney wanted to be part of.
Most recently, Bennett partnered with the legendary animation studio along with’s Michael Hodges and ’s Jeff “Swampy” Marsh to create a 2D animated family comedy series,, based on one of Bennett’s many children’s books.The music-filled show, about an imaginative young girl and her stuffed bunny sidekick Theo, premieres today, January 13 with a marathon of the first seven episodes on Disney Jr., and later in the day on Disney Channel and Disney Jr.On Demand.
The episodes will then be available to stream on Disney+ on January 14, with additional episodes debuting later in the year. The series stars Amari McCoy as A.J.; Bennett as Marty; Jhené Aiko as Siggi; Juliet Donenfeld as Jessie; Innocent Ekakitie as Jazz; and David Mitchell as Theo.The celebrity guest voice cast includes Meghan Trainor, Cristo Fernández, Bootsy Collins, Kate Micucci, Maulik Pancholy, Calum Scott, Lena Waithe, and retired NASA astronaut and engineer Leland Melvin, who will guest star as himself.Bennett executive produces alongside Marsh and songwriter/producer Hodges of Surfing Giant Studios.
Check out a full episode here: Hey AJ! Full Episode ️ | To Mommy With Lava / Happy Friendship Birthday | NEW Show | @Disney Jr.“The book started with my daughter going and reading children's books and saying, ‘I wish this book was like this’ or ‘I wish they had more of this.’ I figured I had enough skills to be able to make the kind of book she would want.Then, when my daughter started getting into cartoons, I dabbled in animated shorts and just kept going.
Actually, the first thing I did for Disney was a 15 second bumper for Disney XD called .I thought, ‘I like the way this tastes at Disney.I want to do more of this.’” Shadowing various creatives at Nickelodeon and Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, Bennett began honing his skills as an artist and storyteller.
While in Burbank, Bennett connected with Hodges, who’d read the NFL star’s books “Hey A.J., It's Bedtime” and “Hey A.J., It's Saturday.” “He was telling me about Swampy and everyone on his team and said he thought that they could make very good animated series,” shares Bennett.“We courted for about six months because I was wondering, ‘Are these the right hands to trust with my child?’ And then after a while of having conversations, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I like these people.’” Marsh adds, “I have to say, now that I've gotten to know Marty, he’s completely shattered my stereotypical view of a professional athlete.And I'm really not sure how he ever became an incredibly successful athlete, because the Marty I know is pure creativity in the most extreme way, from clothing design to books, illustration, writing, art, and personal expression.
It's like, ‘What were you ever doing in football?’” Bennett replies, “I know.I was always a fish out of water in that locker room.” But that fish found his ocean with Disney and, as Marsh puts it, Bennett’s philosophy “gelled” with Hodges and Marsh’s sensibilities.The two long-time animation creators were tickled pink when Bennett chose to trust them with , and the stories of a child’s imagination turning ordinary life moments – and even sometimes her own hair – into something extraordinary. “One of the first things I fell in love with when I started really talking to Marty was the philosophy that the adult participation with their kid in that animation world wasn't a separate world,” explains Marsh.
“A.J.has her imagination world, but it didn't exclude her parents.And that, to me, was fantastic.
In the way people say, ‘Dance like nobody's watching,’ Marty plays like nobody's watching.And I want parents to feel that it's okay to play with their kids like nobody's watching.And to look silly and to have fun and be wacky.” Bennett chimes in, “I love that too because a lot of times, when we see Black fathers on television, they're not really participating in the child's life.
So, with this story, as a Black father myself, I wanted to make sure that the father was given a really beautiful image with raising a child and playing with the children and being present.I play a lot with my daughter where I'm the dinosaur the whole time while she's chasing me around the park.I wanted the presence of the father in the household and the family to be there in the show, rather than a child being left to their own devices.” The team also wanted to make sure the show had equally beautiful visuals to accompany its important messaging. “It’s one of the reasons this is one of the few shows on Disney Junior that's traditional hand-drawn animation,” says Marsh.
“I loved the popping, candy-colored world that Marty had created and I really wanted to keep that feel of the original illustrations from the books because they're just gorgeous.” And the colorful world isn’t simply there for the sake of keeping children’s attention or interest.It’s to show how truly magnificent the power of the imagination can be… whether telling stories in a football locker room or creating a show in an animation studio. “Some days A.J.wants to be a hero and some days she wants to be a detective,” notes Bennett.
“At one point in our lives, we believe that we can be so many things.And as we get older, we start thinking that we could be less or we can't change and become something new.We think we have to stick to this one thing.
But when you're a child, you're an astronaut one day and a cowboy another day.” He continues, “When I came on this group, I struggled to figure out what my role was and what it meant to be on a creative team.But my role was the same as A.J.’s.I feel like my biggest contribution to this was opening up my imagination for everyone that's working on the show and giving them all the things I was thinking and then letting them take it as clay and mold it into things I couldn't even imagine.
I’ve realized that my imagination is something I can lend to everybody.And I hope that inspires others who watch this show, both parents and kids.” Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime.She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment.
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